GTrusted

Although the Sony FDR-X3000 4K Action Cam and GoPro HERO5 Black can both record 4K@30fps videos, they have marked differences in battery charging and power management.  

The Sony FDR-X3000 4K Action Cam uses USB 2.0 based charging over a USB micro-B connector to charge fully in about 130 minutes starting at 4.5 watts (5 volts @ .9 amps) from a fully depleted battery, with the current dropping steadily after 76 minutes to zero as battery gets fully charged.  

One downside with Sony's design is that the battery will not charge while the camera is turned on. A bigger problem is that while the Sony FDR-X3000 4K Action Cam is charging, excessive heat is generated which automatically shuts down the recording prematurely. Often times , our 4K@30fps recordings were terminated under 10 minutes while the camera was plugged into a USB charger. Even if the USB charger was not connected to the camera, we could only record about 32 minutes of 4K video before overheating caused the camera to stop the recording.

The GoPro HERO5 Black uses USB Power Delivery over USB Type-C for charging with the GoPro Supercharger and can charge fully from a depleted battery in about 88 minutes (although there are a lot of resets that happen during the entire course of charging). Charging starts at 7 watts (5 volts @ ~1.3 amps) and drops steadily after about 36 minutes of charging.

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Unlike the Sony FDR-X3000 4K Action Cam, the GoPro HERO5 Black can charge while recording (although it may not seem to be as seen in this review) and doesn't suffer from any overheating issues that prematurely terminate recording. This makes it easier to keep your GoPro HERO5 Black charged and capture 4K videos at key moments. With slower overall charging, lack of charging while the camera is turned on, and constant overheating which terminates recording make it much harder to be productive with the Sony FDR-X3000 4K Action Cam.